HISTORY The Australian Garden History Society is the leader in concern for and conservation of significant cultural landscapes and historic gardens through committed, relevant and sustainable action. ohn and Lynne Landy •Li] Jackie Courmadias Australian Garden History, the official journal of the Australian Garden History Society, is published five times a year. Toll Free 1800 678 446 Phone (03) 9650 5043 Fax (03)96508470 E-mail info@gardenhistorysociety.org.au Web-site www.gardenhistorysociety.org.au AGHS Gate Lodge, 100 Birdwood Avenue, Melbourne, 3004 Subscriptions (GST inclusive) Fori year Single $55 Family $75 Corporate $200 Youth $20 (under 25 years of age) Non-profit organisations $75 $132 $121 each) $220 $198 each) $330 $275 each) $550 $495 each) $440 for Australia-wide mailing Pro-rata for state-wide mailing 1/8 page (2+ issues 1/4 page (2+ issues 1/2 page (2+ issues Full page (2+ issues Inserts Genevieve Jacobs Wallendbeen Station Wallendbeen NSW 2588 Phone: (02) 6943 2621 E-mail: gjacobs@dragnet.com.au New Litho (03) 8809 2500 ISSN 1033-3673 Convener Christine Reid Members Richard Aitken Max Bourke Glenn Cooke Paul Fox David Jones Anne Latreille Megan Martin PrueSlatyer ChristopherVernon Cover: An unusual combined Wardian case and aquarium. Image from private collection. George Seddon, a tribute (1927 - 2007) Professor George Seddon AM, who joined the Society in 1991, died peacefully whilst tending his Fremantle garden on May 9, 2007, just a few weeks after his 80th birthday. Peter Watts recalls an outstanding Australian. G eorge, born in Berriwillock, Victoria, was one of Australia’s great public intellectuals, contributingto debates and discourse in many areas, particularly those associated with the conservation of Australia’s natural and cultural landscape. He was a regular contributor CONTENTS to the Australian Garden History Society: includingtothis journal, with a long and brilliant dissertation on the Australian back yard (Vol 3 No 2 1991), a guest editorial (Vol 9 No 5 1998), a Bibliographic Banter (Vol 9 No 6 1998), and several book reviews. He also spoke at a number of AG HS conferences, Opening the Wardian case . Richard Clough 4 Spanish lessons . Stuart Read 8 Meet your National Management Committee - Max Bourke 12 Horticultural heritage . Prue Smith 14 The Pinjarra Park puzzle . John Viska 16 Reviews: A Country Garden and Canberra: City in a Landscape . Trevor Nottle and Max Bourke 18 Vale: Laura Katter 21 Letters to the Editor 22 Items of interest 23 Diary dates 24 2 Australian Garden History July/August 2007 Vol. 19 No. i giving the Keynote Address at the Toowoomba conference in 1996 on Gardens as Paradise (published in Vol 8 No 4 1997) and another major address at the Perth conference in 2005. In his guest editorial, in characteristic style, he gently chided the Society for not tackling the ‘big issues’ at its annual conferences. He argued that gardens are the intersection between the natural and the cultural worlds and thatthe AGHS should take advantage of this by exploring the issues that this intersection opened up to us. George was a natural, and cheeky, show-off. He loved a platform, and invariably delighted, surprised and often provoked his audiences. He was not one to deliver the predictable, nor was he bound by the academy. He always had a new way of seeing and analysing an issue and was ever willing to jump professional disciplines and other boundaries in search of a deeper understanding. He wore his erudition lightly. His deliveries - whether books, lectures or casual conversations - were always entertaining, littered with a startling variety of literary, historical, botanical and other references. Like the best communicators his sparkling, and often wry, deliveries managed to convey the most complex issues in a mannerthat was both understandable and convincing. I recall in the early 1970s being dragged out of bed by George at 5am on a freezing winter’s morning in Bright, north eastern Victoria, and sitting on top of his car as he drove down the main streets of the town. My job was to take a photograph of each building, as he stopped momentarily in front of it, so these could later be taped into long strips so we could analyse the streetscape. That seems typical of George -a mix of the practical (the task had to be accomplished before the streets filled with cars), the theatrical, the theoretical, a new way of seeing and recording and a very generous ingredient of fun - and indeed there was much laughter during the entire exercise and several glasses of warming sherry for breakfast when the job was done. And throughout he remained a generous spirited teacher. It perhaps comes as a surprise to learn that George’s initial training was in English literature, to be followed by studies in earth sciences and later a doctorate in geology gained in the USA. During a long and distinguished academic life he held chairs in English, Geology, History and Philosophy of Science and Environmental Science. He was the Founding Director of the Centre for Environmental Studies at Melbourne University from 1974 - 1982 and in that role did much to advance the cause for landscape architecture, environmental planning and conservation in Australia. Of his many books Swan River Landscapes (1970) and A Sense of Place (1972; 2004) seem to me the most important. They had a profound effect on many, including me. Here, forthe first time, was a ‘new’ Australian trying to understand his landscape by dissecting it into its components -its geology, hydrology, vegetation, climate, history and its visual qualities. What now seems so sensible, and common, was not so at that time and George led the way, with a few others, in finding ways to better understand, and therefore plan, to protect the fragile Australian landscape - whether natural, manmade, rural or urban. George Seddon was first and foremost a scholar - he joked that he was known as the ‘professor without portfolio’ in his last posting at the University of Western Australia. He was also an outstanding gardener as his beloved garden in Fremantle testifies. Here he died, amongst an astonishing array of rare plants, all appropriate to the climate, and whose provenance he knew backwards. He will be greatly missed by the AGHS, and by many others - both individuals and organisations - for his unbounded energy, erudition, lively banter, wicked sense of humour and for continually prodding us to learn to live more lightly in our environment. Peter Watts AM is the immediate past chairman of the AGHS. NATIONAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE Chair Colleen Morris Vice-Chair Max Bourke Treasurer Malcolm Faul Secretary Di Wilkins Elected Members Max Bourke ACT Nina Crone VIC Malcolm FaulVIC Sarah Lucas NSW Colleen Morris NSW Stuart Read NSW Christine Reid VIC Di Wilkins SA State Representatives Cecily Dean QLD John Dwyer VIC Wendy Joyner SA Ivan Saltmarsh TAS Jill Scheetz ACT Chris Webb NSW In rotation WA BRANCH CONTACTS ACT/Monaro/Riverina Branch Madeleine Maple PO Box 4055 Manuka ACT 2603 mmaple@netspeed.com.au Queensland Branch Keith Jorgensen 14 Petrina St Eight Mile Plains 4113 Ph: (07) 3341 3933 jorgenkg@picknowl.com.au South Australian Branch Di Wilkins 39 Elizabeth Street Eastwood SA 5068 Ph: (08) 8272 9381 diwilkinsi@bigpond.com Southern Highlands Branch Chris Webb PO Box 707 Moss Vale NSW 2577 Ph: (02) 48614899 cwebb@cwebb.com.au Sydney & Northern NSW Branch Stuart Read Ph: (02) 9873 8554 (w) stuart.read@heritage.nsw.gov.au Tasmanian Branch Ivan Saltmarsh 125 Channel Road Taroona TAS 7053 Ph: (03) 6227 8515 ivanof@bigpond.com Victorian Branch Pamela Jellie 5 Claremont Crescent Canterbury VIC 3126 Ph:(o3) 9836 1881 pdjellie@hotmail.com Western Australian Branch Sue Monger 9 Rosser Street Cottesloe, WA 6011 V0I.19N0.1 July/August 2007 Australian Garden History 3 Opening the Wardian case: experiments in plant transportation by Richard Clough George Loddiges, who had assisted Ward in his earlier experiments, stocked the cases for the trial in the nursery he ran in Hackney with his brother Conrad, The two cases were planted with ferns, grasses and mosses, the names of the plants not being recorded. These were placed on the poop, where they were to remain throughout the voyage. Also on board, as well as the regular cargo, were cabin and steerage passengers. The voyage to Hobart, including a call at Portsmouth, took 128 days, during which time the plants were neither watered nor attended to otherwise. From Hobart, Mallard wrote to Ward to congratulate him on the success of the trial, reporting that ‘the plants (with the exception of two or three ferns which appear to have (i rjuuft lw( /hi/t'^n/n'c ' in /iai r utJ In’i’/t tie i/i >t(r/n>ic/i{ .Je/atec' /a jj/rt l/iv j/rey.Je iuyipitrtnt d i jceve jj' (e lie irei/tjuaif ' (cTfirJP O n July 8, 1833 the schooner Persian left London with two plant cases on board on what the designer of the cases, Dr. Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward, described as ‘an experimental voyage to New Holland’, to test what the ship’s captain, Charles Mallard, referred to as ‘a simple but beautiful discovery’. Ward’s observations on the growth of plants in enclosed glass containers, begun in 1829, and his development of the cases that made it possible to grow delicate plants in the polluted atmosphere of industrial cities are well known. Also well known, although Ward’s contribution is often overlooked, are the revolutionary changes brought about worldwide by the sudden acceleration in the pace of plant distribution made possible by the use ofthe plant cases he had developed. Less well documented is the experiment that demonstrated the effectiveness of these cases for the transport of plants and seeds by sea, even on the longest voyages then being made. Ward realized that many ofthe causes of failure on board ship, the effects of salt spray on plants carried on deck, the lack of light when they were stored below, the scarcity ofwateron longvoyages, both forthe plants and forthe removal of salt, the damage caused by both humans and animals, as well as the frequent lack of skill in managing plants by those responsible forthem, could be overcome by employing properly designed, enclosed glazed cases. He sought the assistance of a fellow member ofthe Linnean Society, Charles Mallard, who was both a master mariner and a keen naturalist. Mallard, a retired Royal Navy lieutenant, had visited Australia in 1829, when, as captain ofthe Prince Regent, he had sailed to Sydney. Currently master ofthe Persian, a four-gun, 400-ton barque, he was planning a return trip, one that was to give Ward an opportunity to test his ideas. faded) are all alive and well’, and that they had ‘grown a great deal, particularly the grasses, which have been attemptingto push the top ofthe box off’. Leaving Hobart on December 22, the Persian reached Sydney on New Year’s Day 1834. 18 days later, Mallard wrote to Ward saying, ‘the plants contained in the two glazed cases were landed at the Botanical Garden’ and that they had ‘since been transplanted by Mr McLean, who has charge ofthe garden in the absence of Mr Cunningham (gone to New Zealand botanizing) and all doing well’. He concluded his letter saying, ‘I cannot but feel some little degree of pride and pleasure in having been the instrument selected to putto the proof so important a discovery to the botanical world’. Ward knew Allan Cunningham in London and would probably have discussed this trial with him as the cases were being sent to the garden where his brother Richard 4 Australian Garden History July/August 2007 Vol. 19 No. 1 ABOVE: Line illustration of a Wardian case. Image by courtesy of the Archives, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne Vol.igNo.i July/August 2007 Australian Garden History 5 was superintendent. As he was away, John McLean, the acting superintendent, carried out the emptying and restocking of the cases. This latter operation took place in February, when the temperature reached between 90° and 100 °F, (32 0 to 38°C) again using unlisted ferns and grasses. Soon after his arrival, Mallard advertised for cargo and passengers for his return voyage. These advertisements continued to appear until May 12, eight days before the Persian eventually left, so the plants had time to be established before being taken on board. As Cunningham returned to Sydney on April 13, he had time to see the cases and to understand what had happened to them in his absence. When he first arrived in Sydney, he blamed ‘the want of proper accommodation for plant cabins on board the vessel’ for his failure to introduce many new plants. It is somewhat surprising, therefore, that he made no mention ofWard’s experiment in eitherof his reports to the Governor for 1834. The Arctic explorer Sir Edward Parry and his family were amongst the passengers on the return journey. As his son, who was on board, makes no mention of the voyage in his life of his father, it would appearto have passed without special incident. Ward, however, notes the temperature during the voyage fell to 20°F (-6°C) (when rounding Cape Florn, when there was a foot of snow on the decks where the cases stood), rose to ioo° F (38° C) at Rio de Janeiro and reached 120° (49 0 C) at the Equator before dropping to 40° (4°C) in the English Channel. Afterthe ship docked at Gravesend in November, Ward, accompanied by George Loddiges, went on board to inspect the cases. They were delighted to find the plants they contained had survived those extreme conditions and without being watered, were in a flourishing state. In addition, they found that seeds of black wattle, Callicoma serrata, present in the soil placed in the cases in Sydney had germinated during the voyage. This no doubt suggested the use of the cases for conveying seed with short-lived vegetative properties, a use Ward was to emphasize when he came to write On the Growth of Plants in Closely Glazed Cases. Loddiges was especially pleased to see a live parasol fern, Gleichenia microphylla, only previously known in Europe from dried specimens, in one of the cases. So, not only did the expedition meet Ward’s most sanguine expectations, but an Australian plant became the first to be introduced in a Wardian case, as the containers came to be named. As the Persian had spent so long in Australian waters, Ward had heard, by letter, ofthe success of the outward journey and in August Loddiges had dispatched similar cases containing useful and ornamental plantsto Ibrahim Pasha for his gardens iri Cairo and Damascus, commencing their widespread use. By 1842, Loddiges had employed more than 500, sending and importing plants to and from distant parts ofthe world cheaply and efficiently. Reports ofthe results ofWard’s experiment began to appear in scientific journals. H is letter to W. j. Fiooker was printed in the Companion to the Botanical Magazine, May 1836, and a paper by Daniel Ellis appeared in the Annual Report and Proceedings ofthe Botanical Society, Edinburgh, 1838-9. This was reprinted byJ.C. Loudon in his Gardener’s Magazine, September 1839. In Loddiges’s letter in which he gives the statistics quoted above, he draws special attention to the success ofthe assignments entrusted to Captain Mallard ofthe Kinnear. Mallard brought the Kinnear, which may be the Persian renamed, with the Kinnear family on board to Sydney in 1835, returning in 1837 and again in 1839. Then in 1842 he and his wife, who had accompanied him on the memorable 1833-4 voyage, arrived on the Salus to settle in Australia. Like her husband, Mrs Mallard was a keen naturalist, and in Port Phillip she collected algae forW. H. Flarvey and one, Arthrocardia mallardiae, was named in her honour. After a distinguished career in landscape architecture, Richard Clough has devoted his retirement to research and book collecting, especially in the area of Australian colonial horticulture and gardening. ( //r/rr \j ciCjn-yaiicn ,J m (in' jfnncik c^/nniJ in cnc/cJcr 'fn cnnictintip, inu/nn in jMzq? m/ic ki,J S)cvi‘/yjnn’nt o^t/ier cm ,)c rj t/utt inMcc iijjc,)jik7c (cj/rcic f’icMlc jj/nni >) in die i//rn tJij'in/* cititz) Mjy ice/ 1 / 1 inMitm. jjdf/nicc MininM/i 6 Australian Garden History July/August 2007 V0I.19N0.1 /; BELOW: Parasol fern ( Cleichnia microphylla ) a woodblock print from E) Lowe’s Ferns British and Exotic, London 1864 AS1LDIUH ACUU1WA7P11 XI-vou s. Australian Garden History 7 Spanish gardens shade, mystery & lessons Spain faces similar environmental challenges to Australia - affluence, urbanisation, migration, water supplies and high consumption. Undertaking a recent study tour, Stuart Read found its range of climate gives interesting parallels. ustralia and Spain have long, unsung ties -merino for instance is Spanish. Her empire at its peak was the world’s largest. Many economic plants like olives, corn, citrus and vines picked up en route to Australia, imported by Macarthur, Busby and others were from Spanish ports and colonies such as Madeira, Cadiz, Santiago, Cape Town, and Manila. Plants from the Americas came ‘west’ via Spain, which guarded this jealously for some 200 years from 1492. Spanish natives are familiar here: evergreen oak, hellebores, Narcissus, Antirrhinum, Cistus, Arbutus, Digitalis, Pinus, Juniperus, Thymus, Lavandula, Rhamnus, Echium, Euphorbia, Cistus. Many thrived due to the similar aridity. Spain has a complex history, rich in melding, landscape modification, crop and garden-making. It continues: Vibrant plant life at Atocha Station in Madrid. Photo: Stuart Reed. designers and gardeners now are looking backto inform design sensitive to its environment, place, climate and culture. All these vary across what is really many countries and cultures, isolated by rugged topography. Cordoba’s mosque or mezquite (now cathedral) with its patio orsahn is Europe’s oldest surviving ‘gardened’ public space, from 748-1037. A mosque at its simplest is a walled prayer space, and Spain was the first to introduce trees in quantity. Today’s oranges, dates, olives and cypresses are later replacements but the oldest date from the 18th century. Citrus were introduced to the west via Islamic traders and courts. 8 Australian Garden History July/August 2007 Vol. 19 No. 1 In the 14th and 15th centuries the Nasrid dynasty of Granada was the last petty kingdom or taifa to fall to the Christians in 1492. At its core was the Alhambra, a medina on a hill, with barracks, palaces, shops, housing, gardens: everything necessary including water supply. Below and opposite is the town and plain that supported it. One garden form typical of the region is the carmen. These are walled, terraced productive gardens allowing privacy, security, cultivation and views. The other dominant garden form is the patio -a walled courtyard open to the sky often ringed or edged by a building on one or more sides. These are a legacy of Spain’s Greek traders and settlers, then Romans, refined to a high degree by the Moors. They are central to daily life, offering privacy, protection from elements, relief. Imported into Australia via California’s missions (once Spanish), patios remain a useful form for today’s gardens. Perhaps supreme is the Patio de los Arrayanes or courtyard of the myrtles from 1333-53. Myrtle hedges flank a simple pool, reflecting the main reception rooms. An austere landscape of powerto subdue and impress: in modest materials but richly decorated. Also celebrated is the Patio de los Leones orcourtyard of the lions from 1353- 91. This was forthe private enjoyment ofthe court. Debate continues on whether it was originally a sunken garden or not, whether later imaginings introduced its gardens. Today to conserve fragile buildings and plaster decoration, it is gravel-filled with four mandarin bushes: and mesmeric. Across a raised bridge is the Generaliffe, a huerta or orchard retreat built C1250, much modified, its gardens extended for tourism in the 20th century. Huertas are a generic estate form in the Mediterranean and Middle East, combining productive and pleasure gardens: shady places to sit, eat: walled for privacy and security. The Persian paradaiza was one. Today with expanding cities, they are disappearing. In an age of high-rise they are worth reviving. Justly famous is the Patio de la Acequia, the courtyard ofthe architect or waterchannel in the Generaliffe. Its classic 20th century look, lush and flowered, has had recent editing and pruning under expert advice from Jose Tito Rojo of Granada University. Research of pollen samples and soil levels has shown that its ground level has risen about a meter since the 1300s and allowed identification of its plants in each century. A lower level would have meant a ‘carpet of flowers’ effect at what is now water level. Increasing historical accuracy has led to partial re-presentation removing plants unavailable pre-1492. A fascinating exhibition snowed historic images of 21 versions of it since about 1600 - which is authentic? Seville’s Alcaza res Reales or royal palace is a layered Mudejar complex of Muslim era (io-i2th centuries) fortress, extended and adapted by Christian kings. Pedro the Cruel undertook significant rebuilding in 1350 using craftsmen from Granada, such did he admire their ski lls. Its gardens have patios from every century since, walled huertas from the 17th, an English landscape park from the 19th and additional changes from the 20th century. At its heart is the Patio de las Doncellas, for royal receptions, a site of contention. Its 1600s marble floor was removed after archaeological testing in 2002 showed an intact 13th century sunken courtyard below. These are so rare in Europe it was considered worth revealing. A raised water canal or acequia bisects it flanked by sunken meadows with flowers, grass, and citrus. Loveliest is its former huerta, the Jardines de la Dama. Formalised in the Baroque as a strolling garden for court ladies, its plants (myrtle parterres, cotton palms from California, date palms from the Middle East and perfumed flowers (carnations, mock orange, jasmine) suggest the span and richness of Spain’s empire. Since the 1980s cities like Madrid and Valencia have had high migration triggering urban renewal to provide necessary housing and open space. Barcelona’s design competitions converting industrial sites into parks have ccpuprnic fi/n' d/ivi',), com? cUnt>J r/nl : y/zicJ yj/c/fTr /yj en rmte in /nynj'/t'r ly~ ' /J ^'(n'«rl/utr / a/tc ot/ieizl iccre /n^n / \ r(/(c Cdfpnu’^J 1 / j'f r(r e i rrt / ( ^rn ! i (Lr/pe ' r~zt l